'Predator' 3-Movie Collection 4K Blu-ray Review: One Ugly...?

The first Predator film is a three-way classic. It’s a classic example of the movie-making of the 1980s. It’s a classic action film by any decade’s standards. And it’s also a classic monster movie, serving up one of cinema’s most memorable and charismatic ‘villains’.

Lean, pumped, stylish, and beautifully shot and constructed, it’s a masterclass in crowd-pleasing entertainment that’s every bit as good in its own way as director John McTiernan’s other 1980s masterpiece, Die Hard.

Predator 2 lacks the brilliantly brutal simplicity and purity of the original - as well as much of its class. I mean, it actually makes the original film look like a nun’s picnic, for heaven’s sake. But it still just about manages to entertain - especially once you get past the early couple of schlocky massacres - thanks to its sheer, unabashed dumbness and crude humor.

You are one ugly... etc.Photo: Predator, 20th Century Fox

The Robert Rodriguez-produced 2010 Predators reboot is slightly better than expected, returning somewhat to the formula of the first while trying (albeit with limited success) to expand the Predator lore. It’s really just a B movie at heart, but some slick direction makes the most of what feels like a stripped back script and pretty limited budget.

Extra Features:PREDATOR - Commentary by director John McTiernan; Predator - Evolution of a Species documentary; Text commentary by film journalist Eric Lichtenfeld; If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It ‘making of’ documentary; Inside The Predator collection of vintage featurettes; short feature on the special effects; Short Takes selection of brief interviews; four deleted scenes and outtakes; theatrical trailers; Photo gallery; text-only profile of the Predator and his armory; PREDATOR 2 - Commentary by director Stephen Hopkins; Commentary by writers Jim and John Thomas; The Hunters And The Hunted documentary discussing the differences and similarities between the two Predator films; Evolutions segments examining the creation of various visual effects set pieces; a featurette on the Predator’s weapons; two Hardcore News segments (as shown in the film); a selection of brief promotional featurettes and trailers; PREDATORS - Commentary by director Nimrod Antal and producer Robert Rodriguez; short animated comic features adding back story to how the human characters got to the alien planet, and how the captured predator came to be strung up in the new predators’ camp; Evolution of the Species ‘making of’ documentary; short profiles of the human ‘prey’ characters; a promo featurette detailing the making of a particular scene; nine deleted and extended scenes; theatrical trailer

I hadn’t held out much hope for the 4K version of the original Predator. The previous Blu-ray releases have either looked soft and processed or else grainier than seemed necessary even for a film made in 1987.

My, that's a big one.Photo: Predator, 20th Century Fox

It’s real pleasure, then, to find that the 4K remaster from film that appears to have been done for this 4K Blu-ray release is actually very good. Almost miraculously so at times.

The biggest relief is that the grain of the aging 35mm film stock is neither overstated nor ‘processed away’ by obtrusive noise reduction processing.

In fact, for the vast majority of the time it looks absolutely right; present in an authentic, filmic way, but not dominant or ‘digitized’.

There are momentary exceptions to this; some bits of the newly HDR-ed sky, in particular, can look rather fizzy as they peak through the jungle canopy. See, for instance, the light to the right of Poncho’s head at 13.46 (chapter 4). such moments are, though, mercifully very rare.

The 4K master isn’t just impressive for finally capturing the grain of the 35mm print properly, though. There’s real detail here too, which helps the image looking far more life-like and ‘real’ than it has on home video before. Every bead of sweat, every smear of dirt, every pore on the actor’s faces… all the grubby minutiae of being a soldier in a hostile jungle environment is apparent in a way never previously seen outside the cinema.

This generally impressive clarity can slide a touch with distant shots through the jungle, where the detail slips into softness a little more readily than might be the case with a modern native 4K digital image. But the jungle still looks real, convincing and oppressive in a way I’ve not experienced since I saw Predator on its first cinema run. Yes, I’m that old.

How did this photo of me sneak in here?Photo: Predator, 20th Century Fox

An even better surprise is how well HDR has been applied to a film of such vintage. Daylight images look subtly brighter and more open, while sunbeams, light reflections on faces and weapons, plus the predator’s ‘heat vision’ and fancy gunfire all look beautifully enhanced, adding to the visual impact without becoming overpowering or artificial.

It’s also great to see that dark scenes don’t look even slightly grey after the HDR pass. (In fact, occasionally very dark bits of the picture can look a little too dark, so that they appear a touch dominant and short of detail. Look, for example, at the shot where Blain and Mac sit talking to each other at around 36:54).

Finally, while the colors of skin tones, the jungle’s greenery and, of course, all that red human and glowing yellowy alien blood get more punch in this 4K Blu-ray release, the enhanced saturations mercifully still look fantastically believable and natural.

Overall this upgrade feels like a real labor of love that’s been done by someone who cares about retaining the feel of the original print.

The good times don’t continue to roll with Predator 2, though. It’s still a solid transfer in detail and grain terms; the grain again looks natural, integrated and filmic rather than overwhelming, and there’s a denser, more textured feel to the image than you get with the HD Blu-ray image.

Black levels are still deep and intense, too, avoiding that greyness seen with some digital scans of 35mm film. And every now and then the HDR work is effective as well - most noticeably when it comes to daylight reflecting off skin, and artificial light sources such as TV and monitor screens.

Arnie in happier times.Photo: Predator, 20th Century Fox

Otherwise, though, the HDR seems restrained by the need to cope with the film’s extensive use of often blandly colored interiors, and naturally lit skin tones.

Whats more, despite this probably sensible HDR and wide color restraint, skin tones can look rather unnatural and orangey. The special effects at the end of the second film look even less ‘special’ than they usually do in 4K, too. And that’s saying something.

As you might expect, we’re in a completely different picture quality world with 2010’s Predators. We’re also in a different aspect ratio, as Predators trades the 1.85:1 ratio of the first two films for a 2.39:1 ratio.

The lack of grain in the picture compared with the other two films is immediately obvious, as is the slightly more aggressive use of HDR and wide color. Presumably, because the source material is that much better equipped to take it.

It appears the film was shot digitally in HD - and what we’re seeing here appears to be an upscale of that HD shoot’s 2K digital intermediate rather than a scan from the film’s 35mm print run off.

As upscales go, though, it’s actually a very good effort. Bordering on outstanding at times.

The picture looks more detailed and crisp than the HD Blu-ray version, yet this has been achieved without obvious unwanted scaling artifacts, harsh edge enhancements or nasty noise reduction.

Hung, drawn and predatored.Photo: Predator 2, 20th Century Fox

Large-scale shots tend to soften in the distance more than a native 4K image likely would, but otherwise, it’s surprisingly easy to forget the film’s HD origins.

The picture is also much more routinely bright in its HDR 4K clothes than the other two films too, delivering a more palpable ‘real world’ feel during the film’s daylight exteriors. There are plenty of seriously punchy HDR highlights too: the sky beyond the jungle canopy; the sun dappling on the leaves, ground and tree trunks; sunlight on faces; muzzle flashes; the fire and sparks of explosions; the predator lasers; the ‘oooh’ shot of the alien planets hanging in the sky…

Colors are amped up very effectively too, making the picture look more three-dimensional, solid and realistic without any tone becoming over-dominant or out of place.

Black levels are deep and convincing, and unlike the other two Predator 4K discs, the darkest areas don’t look forced or ‘empty’.

The only issue beyond large-scale shots lacking a little native 4K snap is that some of the pure effects shots (mostly featuring the ‘new’ predators) can look relatively and therefore distractingly soft.

Note that since these films come from 20th Century Fox, which has nailed its 4K Blu-ray colors to the upcoming HDR10+ 'enhanced' HDR mast, there are no Dolby Vision masters available for this trilogy.

Unfortunately, Fox hasn’t ‘done a Paramount’ and introduced new object-based Dolby Atmos or DTS-X audio mix for these Predator remasters. All three films get the same DTS 5.1 HD mixes they already got on previous HD Blu-ray releases.

This, together with the vintage of the first two films, means that their mixes sound rather restrained versus, say, the classic Dolby Atmos remixes recently delivered on, say, Saving Private Ryan and Dredd.

Bass only seldom seeped out of the center speaker into my subwoofers with the first two films, and while the rear speakers are used reasonably well during the main action scenes, they sound a little thin and don’t contribute much ambiance.

Finally, just occasionally there’s a slightly brittle tone to the sound with the two older films - especially with dialogue - which I guess is part and parcel of these mixes’ age.

One nice touch for purists, though, is the option on the first film of watching it using a DTS 4.0 soundtrack that’s more or less equivalent to the sound system used for the film’s original theatrical release.

Born survivors.Photo: Predators, 20th Century Fox

Not surprisingly, the final film delivers the pick of the soundtracks. It’s more consistently dynamic with its use of every channel in a 5.1 speaker system (including in its mixing of the score), and sounds more meaty and open with both its mid-range and bass. There’s a consistently richer and more contextualized sound to dialogue, too, as well as more subtle treble detailing for things like bird song, insect noises and the sound of falling debris after the parachutists hit the ground in the opening scene.

Extras

Unfortunately - if unsurprisingly - Fox hasn’t rustled up any new extra features for the 4K versions of its Predator trilogy. Everything here is the same as that provided with all the films’ most recent HD Blu-ray releases.

The good news is that the commentary tracks available for each film have been ported over onto the 4K discs, so you don’t have to ‘suffer’ with HD visuals while listening to them. All the other features for each film are found on the original HD Blu-ray discs provided alongside the new 4K ones.

There are too many features across all three discs for me to cover in depth here. Suffice it to say it’s a decent collection, especially where the first film is concerned.

Verdict

While the presentation of Predator 2 lets the AV side down a bit, the original Predator is the one that really matters to movie fans. And with that Fox has done an excellent job of finally giving us the sort of home video release such a classic film deserves.

In fact, with the two follow-on films not really doing the first film proud, my biggest question where this three-movie collection is concerned is if you wouldn’t actually be better off saving yourself a few quid by just getting the solo 4K release of the original film instead.

I've spent the past 20 years writing about the world of home entertainment technology--first at Home Cinema Choice magazine, where I became Deputy Editor, and for the past 17 years on a freelance basis. In that time I'm fairly confident that I've reviewed more TVs and projec...